


Zach to the Rescue

by zilia



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-22 08:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2501789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zilia/pseuds/zilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris is in trouble. Zach to the rescue!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zach to the Rescue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [satismagic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/satismagic/gifts).



> This is a birthday fic for the wonderful Juno Magic, who requested hurt Chris and Zach rushing to defend him. Happy birthday, my dear!

Zach was woken on his day off by the insistent ringing of his phone. Recognising Chris’s ringtone – that stupid song from the _Vampire Lawyer_ sketch Chris had done a couple of weeks ago, to Zach’s endless glee and Chris’s undying embarrassment – he groaned, trying to locate the phone without having to open his eyes. It was unlike Chris to ring at such an early hour; out of the two of them, Zach was the early bird. This probably meant that it was something serious, and it would not do to ignore him. He finally found it, fumbled with the touch screen, pressed the wrong button, and inadvertently hung up.

“Fuck,” he muttered, accepting that he’d now have to open his eyes. He did so reluctantly, scrolled through his address book, and then dived back under the covers while the phone rang.

“Zach?”

“Hey, man. Sorry I hung up on you…why are you calling me so early?”

“Um, Zach, something’s happened.”

“Yeah, I kind of worked that out from the dawn wake-up call. You want to go into a bit more detail?”

Chris took a breath and then hesitated, and Zach could feel himself getting annoyed. It was so early, and he had been looking forward to a lie-in.

“C’mon, man. You woke me up. You can at least do me the courtesy of – “

“Someone-sent-photos-of-me-and-Matt-to-the-tabloids,” Chris said, all in a rush.

Of all the things Zach had expected, this had definitely not been on the list.

“What?”

“Someone sent photos of me and Matt to the tabloids.”

“Yeah, I heard you, I just didn’t understand. You and Matt broke up ages ago.”

“Last spring, yeah,” Chris said, and Zach wasn’t sure, but it sounded like he was sniffling. He remembered the break-up; it had been a bad one, and had led to a downward spiral for Chris, making him withdraw completely from his friends, lose a ton of weight, and embark upon a series of staged dates with models, something which he had previously refused to do.

“So what are they doing with those pictures now?”

“I don’t know. Someone trying to make a quick buck selling them, I guess? They’re all over the internet. My agent’s going nuts. She called me half an hour ago and I’ve been panicking ever since. What am I going to do?”

Chris’s voice cracked, and Zach’s heart ached for him. He fought the early-morning fog in his brain as he tried to think of some advice.

“I just…I didn’t want this to happen now. Not like this. I had a _plan_ , damn it. I mean, when it was you…you were so _dignified_ , and you did it on your own terms, and I kind of wanted to do that too. Not have this sprung on me like this.”

“Chris, hey, it’s ok. Calm down. What did your agent say?”

“She said I have to make a statement…I have no idea what to do. My mind’s a total blank.”

“OK,” Zach said, “Do you want me to come over?”

He could almost hear Chris sagging in relief. “Would you? I could just really do with someone to talk to right now.”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll come right over. Give me a moment to get ready.”

“Thanks, man. You’re the greatest,” Chris said, and Zach was sure that he could hear another sniff.

“No problem. See you soon.”

 

 

Zach had dressed in what was probably record time, in jeans, a t-shirt, and a thick hoodie to protect him from the morning chill. The sun was coming up, and it looked as though it was going to be a beautiful day: crisp and clear. He thanked his lucky stars he was in town to sort out the sale of his house; just a few more days and he would have been back in New York again. He took a slight detour to pick up some coffee, making sure to get a bag of Chris’s favourite blueberry muffins along with his latte. From experience, he knew that comforting Chris was much easier when you came bearing hundreds of unnecessary calories. As he approached Chris’s driveway, he was taken aback by the collection of vehicles and people gathered around it. It took him another moment to realise that, of course, they were there in response to the pictures. Bastards. He was going to have to fight his way through them somehow. Just as he was wondering whether he could possibly sneak round another way, one of them turned and saw him.

“Hey, it’s Zach Quinto! Hey, Zach! Did you know about Chris being gay?”

At this shout, the whole lot of them turned around, and he was suddenly faced with a barrage of questions.

“Are you and Chris dating?”

“Did you know his boyfriend?”

“When did he come out to you?”

Zach ignored everything, including his very strong desire to educate the reporters on the difference between being gay and being bisexual, and tried to worm his way through the crowd. They pressed in around him more tightly, and he had to clutch the coffees and muffins to his chest in order to protect them.

“Have you ever gone a double-date together?”

“Was that blind item earlier this year about you and Chris?”

“Is he dating anyone now?”

“Can we call you Pinto?”

He was almost at the gate now, and would have been able to reach the keypad if he had not been desperately trying to preserve the things he was carrying. Just as he got through the jam of people, he heard one question that brought his temper to boiling point.

“Hey, did you cheat on Miles with Chris? Is that why you broke up?”

He stopped in his tracks, then whirled around. He could feel anger surging beneath his skin, and those journalists who were standing closest to him took a step back, almost as one, at the sight of his expression.

“OK,” he said, and he was surprised by how calm his voice sounded. “Let me tell you guys some things. One, there are so many other thing that are going on in the world right now that I cannot even begin to imagine how you think that who Chris does or does not have sex with even constitutes news. Two, leave Chris alone. Give him his privacy. It’s nothing to do with you and it remains nothing to do with you what we are to each other. And three, all of you, right now, get the fuck out of here, go back to your pathetic parasitic lives, and tell yourselves all the way home that **this is none of this is any of your fucking business**.”

Complete and total silence, almost deafening in its way, followed this, and then meekly, miraculously, they started dispersing. Nobody would meet his eyes. Zach watched them all go, not under any illusions that they were gone for good, but feeling a sudden wash of giddiness following this surprise victory. It seemed to flow through his body like a surge of a power he hadn’t used in a long time. It was like being Sylar again. However, almost as soon as he’d worked out what it was, the feeling drained away, to be replaced with dread as he realised with horror what he had said. Engaging with the paps was always a bad idea. Showing up to Chris’s house early in the morning, carrying coffee and using ambiguous emotional phrases like “what we are to each other” was surely going to make Chris’s situation several hundred times worse. But he had been so furious, so desperate to protect Chris, that he hadn’t even thought about what he was saying. This was more than just annoyance at the invasion of his friend’s privacy. He had never really had any sense of restraint when defending Chris was concerned. It was just…he knew how much things like this _hurt_ Chris, and if there was one thing Zach knew he couldn’t bear to see, it was Chris being hurt. He had spoken from the heart, so unlike his usual carefully considered remarks to the press, and he was just starting to realise the implications of what his heart had said.

Zach stood outside, shaking with adrenaline, clutching two cups of slightly cooling coffee and trying to work out exactly how long he had been in love with his best friend without even knowing it. He knew he had to go in and face him, but the knowledge that he might just have created more trouble for him made it very difficult. In the end, he took a deep breath, punched the access code into Chris’s gate, and trudged up the driveway.

It took Chris a long time to open the door. Zach suspected he was making sure it was really him, which made another stab of guilt twist through his guts. He tried not to imagine the furious typing that would be going on across the city’s newsrooms at that very moment. When Chris did open the door, Zach could see he had definitely been crying. They just looked at each other for a while, not saying anything, until Zach pushed forward on of the cups in his hand.

“I brought you some coffee.”

Chris gave him a look of adoration.

“Thank you. And thank you for coming.” He ushered Zach quickly inside, closing the door firmly behind him.

“Did you see anyone on your way in?” he asked, moving through to the kitchen. Zach set down his coffee and the bag of muffins, and Chris rummaged through the bag, proclaiming “Blueberry! Awesome!” when he noticed the flavour. It was a slightly more subdued reaction than Zach was used to, but he considered that in the circumstances he couldn’t really say expect more.

“Um, yeah, Chris, about that…” He found he couldn’t look up, so he stared deliberately down at the counter as he continued, “I…may have screwed things up.”

“What? How?”

“There kind of _were_ some people at the gate when I came in.”

“But you got past them, right?”

“Yes. I got past them. But…I kind of did that by yelling at them.”

“You did what?” Zach forced himself to make eye contact with Chris, whose face wore an odd expression Zach couldn’t read.

“I yelled at them. A lot. And…I may have implied that there’s something going on between us. Completely unintentionally.”

“ _What?!_ ”

“I know! I’m sorry! It was an accident! I was just so angry, and I wanted to protect you, and they wouldn’t shut up asking stupid questions about us, and I spoke without thinking. All I wanted them to do was stop, and…they did.”

“You yelled at the paps and you made them go away?”

Chris seemed to be stuck on the unimportant part of the story.

“Yes, Chris, but I also said some really stupid shit to them, and I’ve probably made everything worse, and I’m so, so sorry…”

“Zach. You came here – without even styling your hair, I notice, which you never fail to do even when you’re running late – and brought me my favourite coffee and muffins and yelled at a bunch of photographers to leave me alone. You’re, like, my knight in shining armour, trying to defend my virtue.”

“But aren’t you mad at me? The internet is probably fizzing with rumours about us as it is! I basically just handed them a golden ticket to a week’s worth of stories.” _Not to mention the tiny, inconvenient, insignificant fact that I’m apparently head-over-heels for you._

“Zach. You’re here. I don’t care about anything else right now.” And Chris set down his coffee, crossed the kitchen, and swept Zach into a grateful hug.

They stood hugging for a long time, well past the acceptable limits of a friendly hug and very obviously heading far into embrace territory. Still Chris did not let go, and Zach couldn’t bring himself to, not with the newfound knowledge of his feelings for Chris still destabilising him. Just let me have this, he thought. _Even if I can never have anything else, let me have this moment._ He felt a curious mixture of hyperawareness of Chris’s nearness, his scent, the speed of his breathing, the warmth of him, the breadth of his shoulders, and a sleepy contentment that they could stand like this. He couldn’t bear to do anything to break it, even as he realised how much of an effect Chris’s closeness was having on his body. Arousal sparked through him like fireworks, tiny explosions in every cell, bursting into blinding colour and showing him what should surely have been obvious for months now, maybe years. He realised, belatedly, that he was nuzzling his face against Chris’s, and that Chris was – maybe? – returning the pressure; tiny movements, minute presses of their cheeks, deep breaths into each other’s hair, infinitesimal tightenings of their arms around one another. Chris butted his head against Zach’s, encouraging him to tilt it, and then his lips found Zach’s and they melted into a soft, slow kiss.

One of them – Zach would never be sure which one, or it might have been both – gave a soft sigh, and they deepened their kiss, still sweet and gentle, but now more exploratory. Zach opened his mouth wider, and felt with a thrill the texture of Chris’s tongue against his. He licked at it, and Chris moaned, and they kept kissing, leisurely exploring the taste and feel of each other’s mouths. He had never kissed anyone like this before, and he felt as though he could drown it in. He wanted to kiss Chris until they merged into one body, one soul, and never had to be apart again, making up for all the time Zach had apparently lost being unaware of his own feelings. Chris seemed to have a similar idea, clinging to him tightly and sucking on Zach’s lower lip, making such a jolt of lust flare through him that he gasped and had to break away. They rested their foreheads together, breathing each other’s breath, still unable to say or do anything except smile and kiss and smile again.

“Zach,” Chris mouthed against his lips, as Zach moved in for another kiss. He opened his eyes and saw Chris gazing back at him, his eyes crinkled in an enormous smile. Chris pulled away slightly so they could properly look at one another, and he was suddenly embarrassed and couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Zach,” Chris tried again, “That was wonderful.” His face wore a hopeful expression, but he also looked slightly nervous, as though he wasn’t sure how to continue or what to expect now that they had broken contact.

“Yeah, it was,” Zach said, fervently, with so much sincerity that they both laughed, and it broke the tension somewhat.

“So, you told the press about us?”

“Is there an _us_?” Zach did his best to sound neutral, but he wasn’t sure how successful it was. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to cope ever again knowing that Chris could make him feel like this with just a kiss.

“Do you want there to be?”

Zach didn’t even have to think about it. “ _Yes._ ”

“Then there’s an us.”

“Why are you so calm about this? You just got outed twice in one day.”

“I don’t like to do things by halves,” Chris said, grinning, and although it was a slightly anaemic version of his usual grin, the essentials were still there.

“Seriously though? You’re ok with it?”

“Well, I wasn’t,” Chris said, “But then the guy I’ve been in love with, like, forever, turned up like a fire-breathing dragon to defend me from the evil hordes and then made out with me in my kitchen.”

“I thought you said I was your knight in shining armour?”

“Knight. Dragon. Whatever.”

“You know what though,” Zach said thoughtfully, “This _definitely_ makes you the princess.”

“Look, this is probably going to be a rough couple of weeks. I’m going to have to call my agent, and we’re going to have to come up with a statement, and then I’m probably going to have to wade through the paps for the next week or so if I want to leave my house. It’s going to suck, for a bit. But if you’re there with me, then that will make it all worthwhile. They’ll lose interest eventually.”

“You’ve changed your tune from an hour ago.”

“Yes, because an hour ago I not only had to deal with the fact that I was hopelessly in love with my best friend, but also with the fact that I’d just been revealed as ‘gay’ – seriously, when are they going to get that bisexuality’s a thing? – and that I had no idea what to do about it. Now that you’ve helped me deal with the first bit, I’m sure I can handle the second.”

“Ok. But I still think you need to take it easy today. Talk to your agent, then we’re spending the whole day snuggling on the couch, we’re watching dumb movies, and we’re kissing, and we’re ordering take-out, and then we’re going to move the snuggling to the bedroom.”

“You’re so bossy,” Chris murmured, lowering his lashes and flashing Zach a look that was unexpectedly coquettish. Zach felt his blood rushing south, and had difficulty stammering out “you don’t seem to mind,” in response.

“On the contrary. I love it that you want to take care, and possibly advantage, of me.” Chris was grinning again, back up to full strength now, and held his hand out to Zach to lead him to the lounge.

They settled onto the couch, Chris waiting for Zach to sit first and then curling up next to him. They shuffled about for a few moments to find the optimum cuddling position. Zach couldn't get over how natural it felt to huddle together like this, Chris’s arms around Zach’s neck, Zach’s arms around Chris’s back.

“I should tell Matt thanks,” Chris said in a sleepy voice a few moments later, securely nestled into Zach’s shoulder.

“What? Why would you want to thank that asshole for anything?”

“I got a text from him just before you arrived. Apparently he was the one that leaked the pictures.” His voice was just a little _too_ casual for this not to be bothering him, and Zach tensed up at once, ready to spring from the couch and find Matt and beat him to a bloody pulp.

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. Money, probably.”

“I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him.”

“Don’t kill him. Heck, send him a fruit basket. If he hadn’t sold the pictures, then you wouldn’t be here.”

Zach felt the fury from that morning return in waves, but somehow, with Chris draped around him, it didn’t galvanise him as it had before. It was far too comfortable for him to even think of moving.

“I’ll do it later,” he yawned, giving Chris a little squeeze, “Maybe tomorrow.”

“You do that. My hero.” And, equally secure in the knowledge that Zach would do no such thing, they drifted off to sleep.


End file.
